


Keeping Eliot

by DustyDiamond



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 06:35:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8045977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DustyDiamond/pseuds/DustyDiamond
Summary: Eliot is tired.  Parker wants to go to bed but Hardison is gaming.





	Keeping Eliot

Eliot was tired. 

Leverage International was three people instead of the five it had been before Sophie and Nate took off for a happy married life. They hadn't heard from them in some time and the hitter often wondered how it was going. However, that is another story. Let's get back to this one. 

Eliot was tired and feeling a little run down. Primarily because three doing the work of five was taking its toll. Years prior he had told Sophie he only slept ninety minutes a day. That was no longer true. Now he caught all the sleep he could, when he could. What with his roles with Leverage International and running Hardison's brew pub..... let's face it Hardison bought the place but had no real knowledge of what it took to keep it up and running..... that job fell to Eliot too. It all added up to wear a person down but he would never complain. The fact was he actually liked what his life had become. That was why, when Alec suggested he stop going to wherever he disappeared to at night and move into one of the empty rooms, Eliot changed the place where he laid his head.

It wasn't all candy and ice cream though. There were times when Hardison's and Parker's antics got on his nerves but he could handle it. He would walk away and either go cook something up, work out, go to his room and meditate or, as in tonight's case he simply told them good night and headed off to bed with all intentions of getting a good night's sleep.

It couldn't have been much more than an hour later when he felt the slight dip of his mattress. He quickly rolled and reached out, wrapping his hand around the slim wrist of the intruder.

"Eliot it's me."

"Damnit Parker, what are you doing sneaking up on me like that?" Eliot growled.

"I always sneak up on you. It never bothers you. Well, except for that one time when you were nervous 'cause you had to sing and all in front of everyone."

"Don't do it when I'm sleeping. It could get you hurt." He half sat up, careful to keep the lower part of his body covered with the blanket. "What do you need? Is there trouble somewhere?"

"No. I want to go to sleep."

"So go." 

Eliot was prepared to turn away and lay back down when she said, "I don't want to sleep alone."

"Why are you telling me? Go tell Hardison."

"He's busy playing with his trolls and stuff."

In the darkness Eliot grinned. He always referred to the characters from Hardison's computer game by the wrong names mainly just to tease the hacker. He liked that Parker was doing the same. Even if Hardison wasn't there to hear it. 

"So it's okay, right?" Parker said as she lifted the edge of his blanket.

Eliot slapped a hand down on the bed preventing her from lifting the blanket completely. "Parker, it's not okay."

"Why?"

"Because.... as much as he annoys me, Hardison is my friend and you, are his girl."

"Yeah, so?"

Eliot sighed heavily. "Friends do not sleep with other friend's girls. Understand?"

"Oh yeah, that. Well he said it would be okay as long as it was you."

"Hardison said that? Was he paying attention to you darlin'?" Although he would never openly admit it, Eliot had a thing for the blonde thief. He often called her crazy, mostly for some of the stunts she pulled. He was also often puzzled by her outlook on things or her childlike actions but when he stopped to consider them he'd recall her childhood was not quite what one could call normal so Parker wasn't normal either. Her crawling into his bed should not be a good thing but if Hardison was okay with it and Parker wanted it......"You're sure?" he asked softly.

She nodded then realized he couldn't see her in the darkness. "I'm sure," she answered just as softly.

Eliot's hand that had been holding the covers down moved away. Parker slipped under moving into open arms that were waiting for her. She kissed him but not in the gentle almost hesitant way she would kiss Alec. She kissed Eliot like someone who had been starving and had a feast laid out before them. When she pulled back her eyes were shining with delight. "This is okay?" she asked.

"This is okay," Eliot agreed before pulling her back for another kiss.

Later as she lay in his arms while he slept, Parker contemplated the second man she chose to be her lover, comparing him to the first. Hardison was always gentle. He seemed to handle her like glass or as if she were a precious treasure he feared he might destroy. Eliot was different. He'd treated her like she was a strong woman that knew her own mind and could keep up with him should things get a little rough. She decided both were good.

After she made love with Alec they would lay cuddling for a while then move apart, each to their own side of the bed. Parker did not like to be held too much and Alec knew and respected that. Eliot slept, holding her and somehow she did not mind it. She didn't feel held back or confined the way she often did when someone tried to hold her. That was how it had been in so many of the foster homes she went through. Those people did not hold her. They grabbed her, they shook her, they dragged her around and because of this it took a lot for Parker to touch and accept touch. Just before she fell asleep she decided that in Eliot's arms she felt.... safe and safe was good. 

Tomorrow she would tell Alec she didn't mind if he stayed up all night gaming as long as he didn't do it every night. Her heart was open to the man sleeping curled into her body but it also belonged to the hacker playing silly computer games in their large living area. Who said you couldn't love two people at once? She sure could.

Out in the living room Hardison wore a happy smile as he battled with Orcs and Murlocs and joined his online friends. He'd known for a long time that his baby girl was interested in Eliot. He'd seen the look on her face the first time she had heard him sing. And whose arms did she run to when she came out of that institution after the 12 Step Job? He held no animosity towards the hitter though because he also knew Parker's love for him was strong. She just happened to have a love for Eliot too and so when she chose tonight to act on it and see how he would react he told her to go for it. He was just happy she would be with someone he knew he could trust her to. Not only that, but in going along with Parker's urge he had succeeded in ensuring that Eliot was theirs to keep.

For the moment no one was on their tails. They had time to relax without any jobs that needed immediate attention. The two most important people in his life were content and he .... no one was bothering him while he enjoyed his game. _'For the Horde!'_ he thought as he took a sip of his orange soda and went back to battle.

**Author's Note:**

> The beginning of this would not get out of my head so I gave in and started writing (since my other two are being obstinate at the moment) I had no idea how it was going to end and only hoped it would by the time my typing fingers got there. I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
